This invention relates to a swivel coupling and more particularly to a swivel coupling for interconnecting the gasoline dispensing nozzle with a coaxial hose which supplies the gasoline and hose to separate the fluid from the vapor lines at the gasoline dispensing pump.
It is conventional practice to store volatile hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline at a service station in underground reservoirs from which the gasoline is pumped into the fuel tank of a customer's vehicle. As these fuel tanks are filled with gasoline, the vaporized fuel in the vehicle tank is displaced therefrom and escapes into the surrounding atmosphere. It has been found desirable from the standpoint of preventing pollution to recover and return to the underground tanks the volatile vapors of the gasoline during such filling operations. There are many newly designed pollution recovery apparatus for use in service station pumps including newly designed nozzles. In providing such systems for the recovery of vapors, it is necessary to either use two adjacent hoses or coaxial hoses to facilitate the conveyance of vapors and fuel in separate lines. This complicates the dispensing system since the hose now becomes awkward to handle due to its bulky nature. This is further complicated by the fact that certain motorists stop their vehicles at positions adjacent the pump which makes it difficult for the attendant to service the vehicle. The attendant, in trying to reach the fill opening of the tank, will twist and kink the hose. This problem is accentuated by the self dispensing pump wherein the motorists are unaware of the problems of hose twisting and further compound the kinking problem by the manner in which they handle the hose. In addition to these problems, the self serve motorist tends to impose undue stress and strain on the hose and on the end coupling to give rise to the necessity of continual hose inspections.
The present invention provides a pump end swivel for coaxial hose to maintain separate passageways for the fuel and the vapors while allowing greater flexibility to the hose and dispensing nozzle particularly under repeated use from the stowed position to its use position.